Whether it is the act of getting up to pray or sitting down to study Torah, that moment has the potential to be the pinnacle of a person’s worldly pleasure, unconnected to any concern about one’s share in the World to Come.
I was once the guest of a Jewish dairy farmer who lived on a kibbutz.
He did physical labor for close to eight hours each day – and he was not a young man – and then he would bathe, have a small meal, and sit for between eight and nine hours studying Talmud.
And whenever it was possible, he would study for another few hours after that.
The fact that he studied bareheaded and that his home lacked a mezuza had nothing to do with the simple pleasure he derived from connecting with God through Torah study.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From Talks on the Parasha